THE number of COVID-19 infections worldwide is now reaching 2.4 million after a spike of over 80,000 cases within 24 hours.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, six countries have recorded more than 100,000 COVID-19 positive cases.

The United States (US) remains the worst affected country with over 755,000 positive cases.

Spain and Italy account for 196,000 and 178,000 cases respectively.

Meanwhile, positive cases in France have surpassed 154,000, while in Germany, 145,000.

The United Kingdom, a country that reached 100,000 positive cases on Friday, now has an increase of nearly 6,000 new cases, totalling 121,000.

COVID-19 has now spread to 185 countries.

However, the total number of COVID-19 patients recovered has so far exceeded 611,000.